Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1887-01-08
PLAIN TALK,
from the New York Star.

There are certain qualities of leader
ship about General Master Workman
Powderly that are eminently calculated
to command attention among he work
ingmen. He knows how TO speak hls
mind, and he has q habit of blurtingout
the truth concerning the workingmel
themselves which while it is not Away:
relished, is cure of a respectful audi
ence. His strong personality and out
spoken methods have done more te
keep the organization we'll together
than the influence of a dozen othel
leaders combined. 1t is not surprising
therefore, that when the opportunity
arrived Mr.. Powderly should have ex'
pressed his uncompromising opposition
to the socialist element in the organlza:
ton of which he is the recognized head
and front. His deliverance seems tc
have set the knights by the ears. This
is especially the case with the Ne"
York Knights, who, as Mr.. Powderly
AYERS, have been mainly instrumental
in bringing about the present trouble
He says:
"The curse OF the knights of Labor
has come from the promptness with
which acknowledged leaders of the
socialistic element have put Themselves
forward at meetings, and, while speak.
ing, plainly limited at the musket and
Gatling gun as the remedy for labor's
grievances. Men may entertain such
ideas as they please, and advocate them
If they please, but they should not
seek, under the cloak of the Knights
Of Labor, to promulgate such doe
trines, and make the Knights RESPONSE
BILE for them. = Until the
Knights of Labor adopt the shotgun as
their weapon, l will vigorously object
to allowing its advocates to step to the
front at all meetings got up in the in
terest of labor. They must not be per-
mitted to advocate blood and fire and
yet proclaim themselves to be the
mouthpieces of the labor cause.
1t is my firm and honest belief that as
vast as is this country, as broad and
extensive as is it's territory, there is not
room enough within it's bounds for the
exercise of q single rifle"
We commend this PLAIN American
talk to the Schwabs, the Mosts, the
Schewitsches, the Drurys and the Ave-
lings who have made our city a stamp
ing ground and a bowling place for the
last few years. Whenever the cause of
labor is mentioned, or a free speech
labor meeting is held, specimens of this
and incendiary class are
found ready to leap up to the platform
on the slightest p%rovocatlon, and to
pour into the ears OF their auditors a
of absurd and Illogical denun-
Citations OF capital and government,
forever ending with the familiar allus-
ion to the potentiality of dynamite and
the shotgun as q sort of combination
panacea for human ills. But the Star
believes that Mr.. Powderly overrates
the influence of the socialistic element
in New York. As a whole, the work.
ingmen of this city, whether Knights
or not, have something akin to a whole
some contempt for the doctrines of
They simply follow the old
maxim of %tolerstiDg q man 81 long a.
he behaves himself; but the moment he
obtrudes his offensive and un-Ameri-
can ideas in their assemblies, the trou-
BILE begins. 1t is this sentiment of
mere federation SO forcibly expressed
in Mr.. Powderly's letter that will
rankle keenly in the minds of the So
Knights as they read it, and will
them to make a strong fight for
his removal. 1t is a test issue, clearly
defined, and the result will show
whether the Industrious, reasonable
and law abiding workers, OF the dis
satisfied and turbulent element import.
ed from abroad has the controlling in
f1uence in the councils Of the Knights
of Labor. Should the latter prove to
be the case the ultimate disintegration
of the organization seems inevitable.
The socialist wedge will eventually
split it in twain.